Chiming toy



April 1, 1958 A. M. STEINER CHIMING TOY Filed May 2. 1956 7% INEEIVVZ'OR. flmlwmgm Arron/75.

United States Patent CHIMING TOY Application May 2, 1956, Serial No. 582,253 4 Claims. (Cl. 272-31) This invention relates to toys and is directed in particular to a chiming toy for infants.

The first senses to develop in an infant are those of sight and hearing and to assist in the development of the infant, various types of educational toys have been proposed in the past, some with moving parts to stimulate his sight and others which produce sounds to stimulate his sense of hearing. In addition, it is generally recognized that bright, colorful objects are more attractive to infants than dull ones. With these things in mind, it is the primary objective of the invention to provide a toy for infants in which the featuresof movement, color and sound are uniquely combined.

A'further objective is to provide a toy for infants which incorporates a number of inexpensive chime bars which are arranged to be sounded one after the other to produce a musical tinkling sound which is pleasing to infants.

Another objective of the invention is to provide a toy for infants which incorporates a number of fanciful and colorful figurines which move as the chimes are sounded to produce a changing display which is attractive to infants.

A further objective of the invention is to provide a toy of the type set forth which can be manufactured and sold at low costand which is exceedingly simple to op erate.

Other objectives of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the drawings in which: i

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a chiming toy incorporating the principles of the invention showing the toy at rest.

Figure 2 is a side elevational view showing the toy in wound up condition.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is-a fragmentary cross sectional view on the line 44 of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary cross sectional view of the right hand portion only of Figure 4.

In general, the toy comprisesthree major parts which are: a support arm 10, a chime assembly 11 and a carrousel-like striker assembly 12. The support arm has a clamp 13 at its lower end by means of which it may be attached, for example, to the top railing of a crib. The clamp includes an inverted U-shaped bracket 14, one arm of which is welded or otherwise afiixed to the lower end of the support arm as at 15. The other arm of the bracket has a thumb screw 16 threaded through it. This screw has its inner end journalled in a clamp plate 17 which is adapted to be tightened against the side of a rail-like member to secure the bracket to it.

The opposite end of the support arm is formed into taken a hook 18 from which the toy is suspended. It will be appreciated that means other than the support arm 10 may be employed to mount the toy. For example, it can be suspended from a light fixture or from some other ice overhead object to place it in a position where it can be seen readily by the infant.

In the instance shown, the chime assembly 11 includes a formed plastic canopy 19 which preferably, in order to add interest to the toy, is star-shaped. The central portion of the canopy has an inverted cup-shaped socket 20. This socket has a hole in it and a hanger member 21 is engaged in it; The lower end of the hanger comprises an eye 22 which is engaged in the cup-shaped socket underneath the canopy, a shank 23 which extends through the hole in the canopy, and a hook 24 which is at the upper end of the hanger and which is engageable with the hook 18 on the support arm as shown in Figure 1. The engagement of the eye 22 in the socket prevents the canopy 19 from rotating with respect to the support.

The outer end of each one of the five points of the star shaped canopy has a string. 25 tied to it. The string may be a simple loop, the lower end of which passes through a hole in the upper end of a chime bar 26 so that the chime bar hangs freely or dangles from the canopy. The five bars shown are generally U-shaped in cross section and they are fabricated from aluminum strips. 'It is found that the strips or chime bars can be made very economically from difierent alloys of aluminum. The dilferences in hardness obtained through the use of diiferent alloys results in differences in the tone of the various bars so that variations in pitch may be obtained when the bars are sounded one after the other 7 as will be presently explained.

The underside of the canopy may be enclosed by means of a paperboard insert 27. It will be noted that the outer marginal edges of the canopy are substantially fiat and a dependingflange 28 is provided at the periphery. The insert 27 is seated within the peripheral flange against the flat outer edges of the canopy and may be held in place by means such as adhesive.

- The insert 27 has a central opening 29 in it directly below the eye 22 to permit a doubled thread or string 39, the upper end of which is tied to the eye, to pass through it. This string passes down through the striker assembly, through a thin washer 31 and is tied to a winding knob 32. In general, twisting the doubled string 30 by means of the knob winds up the toy, shortening the doubled string, so that the upper part of the striker assembly is within the area of the chime bars. This simple expedient of employing a twistable string'to rotate the striker assembly contributes to the low cost of the toy, but equally important, it is found that the string can be twisted in a very short time, thirty seconds for example, to an extent to cause thetoy to rotate and sound the chimes for approximately fifteen minutes; v

The striker which is provided consists 'ofan upright figurine 33 which is fabricatedfrom two shell-like halves joined together by adhesive to enclose the twistable string 30, the string running freely vertically through the figurine. The figurine as shown in Figure 2 may be fairylike in outline with the two arms of the figurine outstretched. The outer end of each one of the two arms of the figurine has a small hole in it to which a string 34 is tied. The lower end of the string is tied to a rodlike metal anvil 35 so that the anvil is horizontal and free to turn about the axis of the string. It is found that thisType of suspension results in a haphazard sounding of the chime bars 26 during the rotating of the figurine which adds to the interest of the sounds produced by the toy. The ends of the rod-like anvils, in swinging on the string 34, strike some of the chime bars harder than others depending upon the direction of rotation of the anvils about the strings caused by contact with the chimes. In addition, some of the bars are missed altogether depending upon the relative positions of the bars and chimes during rotation of the figurine. Also it is found that the toy tends to rotate faster at the start, when the doubled string 39 is wound comparatively tightly, so that the anvil bars 35 also swing out slightly due to centrifugal force. The netetfect is that the sound ing of the chimes varies from one rotation of the striker assembly to the next so that the sounding of the chimes is not simply a monotonous repetition from one rotation to the next.

The fairy-like figurine stands or rests upon a carrousellike lower canopy 36 which preferably is constructed in the same way the canopy 19 is constructed, being starshaped and including a recessed cover plate 37 at its underside.- The doubled'string 30 passes down through the lower canopy 36 and through a hole 38in the center of cover 37 and then through the washer 31 which is engaged against the underside of the cover plate 37 so that the lower canopy rotates during the untwisting of the doubled string 30. A colorful and fanciful figurine 39 is suspended from each one of the five points of the lower star-shaped canopy by means of a string 0. The figurines may be of any type although it is preferred that they be colorful. In addition, plastic wings such as those shown at 41 are provided on each of the figurines so that the slightest movement of air will cause the carrousel part of the toy to rotate even after the string has become unwound. This is the condition of the toy shown in Figure l, and in the circumstance shown the unwound doubled string 30 is sufliciently long so that the two anvils or strikers are below the lower ends of the chime bars.

Shortening the string, of course, will raise the strikers so that the toy will sound as a result of movements of air even though the toy is unwound.

To place the toy in operation, clamp 13 is engaged over the top rail of a crib or over the back of a highchair or other support and then the toy is suspended from it at hook 18. While in this position, the knob 32 is rotated in one direction until the doubled string 39 is twisted to elevate the whole striker assembly into the position shown in Figure 2. Once the string is tightened up, it will rotate the carrousel-like lower canopy slowly, due to its inertia, and cause the fairy-like figurine to turn and to bring the striker bars or anvils into contact with the chime bars. Thechiming will continue during the unwinding of the string ,until the strikers are below the level of the chime bars and the string has become completely unwound.

It is anticipated that the chiming toy may be utilized with or without the figurines. For example, the chime bars may be suspended in the pattern shown in the drawings and a striker of a different sort employed which is associated with the carrousel type assembly 12. Such an, assembly may have the twistable string arranged substantially as shown in order to drive the striker asseml bly.

Havingdescribed my invention, I claim:

1. A chiming toy for infants comprising an upper stationary canopy, means fastening a plurality of chime bars to the upper canopy so as to dangle freely therefrom in a circle, a lower canopy, a twistable string suspending said lower canopy from the upper canopy, whereby the string may be twisted manually and upon the release thereof rotate the lower canopy with respect to the upper canopy, a striker surrounding the twistable string and being mounted on top of the lower canopy to rotate therewith, said striker having a pair of outstretched arms, strings secured to the ends of the outstretched arms and hanging therefrom to generate a circle upon the rotation of the striker which is smaller than the circle in which the chime bars reside, a pair of anvils, each anvil of the pair being longer than twice the distance between said circles, and each anvil being afiixed at its center to the lower end of a string depending from an outs tched arm such that it is in horizontal balance and to swing and rotate, whereby upon the rotation of the striker the ends of the anvils come into contact at random with the chime bars to provide a chiming sound which is not repetitious.

2. A chiming toy for infants as set forth in claim 1 in which the twistable string is of a length such that when it is twisted tightly the anvils depending from the striker are at a level to strike the upper ends of the chime bars, and to progressively move downwardly with respect to the chime bars upon the untwisting of the string to a lowermost position in which the anvils are below the lower ends of the chime bars.

3. A chiming toy for infants as set forth in claim 1 in which a plurality of figurines are mounted at the marginal outer edges of the lower canopy to dangle freely therefrom and thereby provide a moving display upon the rotation of the lower canopy.

4. A chiming toy for infants as set forth in claim 1 in which the striker comprises a three-dimensional figurine with arms outstretched at its two sides and with the twistable string passing through aligned apertures in the feet and head of said figurine.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 169,423 Cheresh Apr. 28, 1953 864,461 Gibbs Aug. 27, 1907 1,279,987 Cole Sept. 24,1918 1,590,524 Keydel June 29, 1926 1,688,096 Tesk Oct. 16, 1928 2,296,000 Ojalvo Sept. 15, 1942 2,368,805 Clark Feb. 6, 1945 2,490,230 Riegel Dec. 6, 1949 2,613,931 Singer Oct. 14, 1952 2,770,159 Shoji Kato Nov. 13, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 37,201 Austria May 10, 1909 37,585 Austria June 11, 1909 OTHER REFERENCES Life Magazine, August 25, 1952, pp. 83 et seq., article on Mr. Calder and Mobiles. 

